1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a simplified clasp for items of jewelry or costume jewelry produced with linked elements suited for instance to produce bracelets or necklaces.
2. The Prior Art
According to known techniques both bracelets and necklaces, or likewise any items that have a closed loop form, are fastened to the arm of whoever wears them by mechanical devices called xe2x80x9cclaspsxe2x80x9d. These clasps basically consist of a box with a slot that holds a male member, which works together with the connecting devices in the box and makes a firm connection of the two ends of the linked item.
There are various types of clasps, but it can be said that every clasp essentially has a female member with a basically boxed construction, being rather complicated to produce, and a male member with a tongue that fits into the slot in t he female member. The production of clasps is quite intricate because it involves several stages of processing such as for example blanking, bending and soldering the boxed female member and other processes for the male member. What""s more, both the female fastener and the male piece have to be soldered or somehow attached to the ends of the linked elements that they have to fasten. Besides, since various work cycles have to be carried out on the clasp, such as for instance soldering the various pieces, and since the jewelry, and especially the goldsmith sector which employs these clasps, demands a high quality finish, it is understandable that the processing of the clasps requires the commitment of specialist personnel and also considerable time to work and refine the finish of the clasp.
The main object of this invention is to dramatically eliminate work time on the clasp, proposing a simplified clasp that nevertheless achieves the same scopes of known clasps.
One of the objects of this invention is also for the proposed clasp to be a very reliable fastener, that resists well to tugs and opening whether by accident or due to acts of violence.
Another object that the invention intends to achieve is that the proposed clasp is easy to use and can even be handled by a just one hand so that the user can open and close the clasp without the help of another person, as is the case for instance with bracelets where one hand is blocked since it has to be kept still to receive the actual bracelet.
Another object that it intends to achieve is to drastically reduce the cost of the clasp and its production time.
Yet another object is to produce a clasp as effective as any made from known techniques and that actually weighs considerably less than known clasps. The reason for this second need is evident especially in clasps made of precious metals, where the lighter weight of the product is an essential condition for keeping down the cost of the item, this being an important factor for it""s success on the market.
All the aforementioned objects and others that shall be better explained below are achieved by a clasp for items of jewelry having an essentially linear construction made of swivel elements linked together to produce a closed loop by connecting first and second end pieces belonging to opposite ends of the item where the clasp is characterised in that it includes a pin attached to the first end piece through a hole belonging to the second end piece, at least one end of the pin having a swelling suited to snapping into a safety clip provided with intrinsic elasticity and rotably coupled on said first or said second end piece.
One advantage of this invention is that the so-called box of the clasp, in other words the female part, has now been completely eliminated with the device invention being replaced, as will be seen below, by a spring clip that works together with the male part made, under this invention, of the swollen tip of a pin. Additional characteristics and details of the invention shall be better explained in the description of two preferred forms of execution of the invention given as a guideline but not a limitation, illustrated in the attached drawings.